ABSTRACT
Objective: The study objectives were aimed to highlight the areas where public awareness is needed to enhance preventive practices among the public. Hence, to avoid the spread of virus in public settings. In addition, the study has provided compelling data and evidence on the coronavirus disease-2019 trend for health policymakers to make strategic decisions. Introduction: The coronavirus disease-2019 is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type-2. The disease has spread across the globe. In Afghanistan, thousands of confirmed cases with hundreds of deaths have been reported. In addition, due to insufficient healthcare workforce, insecurity, fragile healthcare infrastructure, low coronavirus disease-2019 vaccination and low testing capacity, the true nature of the pandemic is unlcear. Method: An online survey of the general population in Afghanistan was conducted from April-May 2021. Convenience sampling technique was used to recruit the respondents. Social media platforms were used (WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook Messenger) to disseminate the electronic survey instrument. Written informed consent was taken from the participants before the filling questionnaires. Data collection was guided through a self-administered questionnaire developed by the researchers according to the World Health Organization guidelines. The sample size was calculated using EPI software. The inclusion criteria were being 18 years or older and having access to the Internet to fill out the online questionnaire. IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0 was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) and bi-variable (chi-square) analyses were done. A p value of <0.05 was considered significant at a 95% confidence interval. Results: From 1094 respondents, 78% were male. The majority of respondents were aged ⩽30 years and had an undergraduate education. Nearly 1 in 3 participants were healthcare workers, and 70% lived in households with five or more family members. Overall, 70% of the respondents reported good preventive practices. The majority of the participants reported covering their mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing and cleaning their hands regularly and using alcohol. Meanwhile, 80% of the participants wore a mask when going outside. Moreover, people with post-graduate education had a higher level of preventive practices than those with an undergraduate education.The results of logistic regression revealed participants residence in Kabul, healthcare workers, family size less than 5, avoid meeting people outside, gender, and avoiding 3Cs, were the significant determinants of adhering to good preventive practices. Conclusion: Generally, the public in Afghanistan followed infection prevention rules. However, certain areas require further improvement, such as observing social distance and avoiding shaking hands when meeting others. Negligence of these prevention practices can lead to an increase in infection transmission among people. Public awareness should be continued to keep the people supportive of the government policies.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Afghanistan at a time when the country was most vulnerable, with a fragile healthcare system and unable to contain the disease, and meet the needs of the vulnerable people. The country has gone through four waves of the disease thus far. An analysis of the COVID-19 cases reported by the District Health Information Software-2 shows that the fourth wave has just passed in March 2022. With the resurgence of the COVID-19 cases in other countries, it is likely that the next wave might not be too far. Challenges such as the lack or insufficiency of donor funds, unstable political situation, inadequate healthcare services, insufficient healthcare workers and diagnostic capacity, illiteracy of people, poor economy and shortage of the COVID-19 vaccine are greatly threatening the nation. The de facto authority does not seem to have a clear plan to fight against the pandemic. Therefore, the international community, civil societies, healthcare workers and other stakeholders should stay alert and combine their efforts to rescue an already plagued nation. Fortunately, many COVID-19 hospitals and laboratories have resumed their activities with the funds coming from international donors. However, to combat the infection in the long term, there seems to be a great need to integrate the COVID-19 services in the existing package of healthcare services, ie the Sehatmandi project. Moreover, awareness campaigns should be continued to keep the most vulnerable groups safe and protected. Vaccination services also need to be speeded up to have a significant portion of people immunized. Public willingness towards getting the vaccine should be increased through awareness campaigns mostly conducted by social media volunteers and healthcare workers.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety among residents of Kabul during the present COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional, community based survey was conducted in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from July 11, 2020, to July 16, 2020. A bilingual (Dari and English) questionnaire was used for data collection. The first section of the questionnaire collected sociodemographic information of the respondents and the second comprised a self-report standardized scale, i.e. Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to assess symptoms of anxiety. The survey form was distributed through online platforms. All residents of Kabul who used social apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook were eligible to participate in the study and participation was voluntary and non-commercial. RESULTS: Altogether 1135 complete responses were received. The majority of them were males and aged 18-34 years. Almost 18% were healthcare workers. Overall, 28.2% of the respondents reported symptoms of moderate to severe anxiety, 38.8% reported symptoms of mild anxiety, and nearly one third of the respondents reported no symptoms. Female participants reported significantly higher levels of anxiety compared with males (39.7% versus 25.6%; p = 0.0001). No significant association was noted between anxiety levels and age groups, occupations, and healthcare workers versus non-healthcare workers. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that a gender-specific psychosocial protocol needs be integrated into the public health emergency plans to fight against the current pandemic.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus pandemic has had devastating effects on many nations, including Afghanistan. Public awareness and following recommendations play an important part in managing such a large-scale crisis, which are affected largely by knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). Medical students can act as reliable sources of information for the public in such a scenario. This study aimed to investigate KAP of medical students regarding COVID-19. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in October 2020 among medical students in Afghanistan, Kabul University of Medical Sciences. Information on sociodemographics and KAP, was collected using a web-based questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 1,169 medical students completed the survey. More than half were female (54.6%), a majority (95%) aged ≥20 years, and more than half (56.2%) lived in the city of Kabul. Overall, students had acceptable KAP regarding COVID-19, except for a few undesirable responses with regard to the risks of close contact with COVID-19 patients, incubation periods, and groups vulnerable to COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Overall, the students had acceptable KAP regarding COVID-19, except for the few undesired aforementioned responses, which need more focus during awareness campaigns in future.